A Repackaged Linda Tripp Is Revealed

COLUMBIA, Md. —  Linda Tripp, whose face launched a thousand skits, has a new look.

Tripp’s legal defense fund released a statement Thursday confirming reports that she had cosmetic surgery performed several months ago by a doctor in Beverly Hills.

A private benefactor, whose identity was not disclosed, paid for the surgery, the statement said. Details about the surgery were not disclosed.

“She just didn’t feel good about herself and felt she could feel a lot better and this is what she went and did,” said Bob Angelotti, a spokesman for Tripp.

He described the benefactor as a close friend who, “because of the parodies,” wanted to help.

Tripp’s appearance became the butt of numerous jokes after she surfaced last year as a key player in the impeachment of President Clinton. Burly actor John Goodman donned a blond wig and portrayed her on NBC-TV’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Tripp is scheduled to go on trial next year in Maryland on charges that she violated the state’s wiretapping law by tape-recording telephone calls in which then-White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky talked about her affair with Clinton.

Tripp turned those tapes over to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.